My Week: Too Much, Just Too Much

We’d been up late the night before and DS1 had to get up at 3 a.m. to get ready to go to work. I, as usual, was sleeping in the living room on the couch. Bless his heart, my son was trying to be quiet and unobtrusive. He was creeping around the kitchen in semi-darkness. The light over the sink was on and he was supplementing its weak bulb with the tiny light on the refrigerator door dispenser. There was no way he was going to be able to do anything that way so I spoke up and told him to turn the light on.

We visited while he got his lunch together. I’d fixed a persimmon the night before as my contribution. There was plenty of other fruit, too. I don’t know what else he took but I was sure he wouldn’t go hungry.

I offered to take him to work but he said no. My DIL is used to doing it. When he was ready, she crawled out of bed and they were on their way. For a wonder, I was able to go back to sleep.

As if it matters, I don’t really remember what time I got up. My morning routine out of the way, I had my quiet time and, when the two women got up, visited with them. Everything was packed up and loaded. My granddaughter had prayer for my safety and I left.

Of course, I stopped at the university supermarket where I used a $5 coupon that was sent out in an email (being on a mailing list has its benefits). Then it was Walmart where I saw the couple I go on road trips with to see our Federal Prison friend. They had just come from visitation for someone I knew years ago. The funeral would be the next day. I did my shopping and then came home.

I’d failed to let DD know I wasn’t going to be home so I missed our visit. “No worries,” she said. Okay.

Bushed is a mild way of describing how I felt. It was more like exhausted. Sleeping in my own bed that night was a real treat.

The funeral was at 10 o’clock. When I remembered it, the clock said 6 p.m. I’d missed it. There are no do-overs in a case like that.

There was one thing I did get done, though. I got in touch with my cousin-in-law and made sure of the days I should work around when I made my appointment with the ENT. Turns out it wasn’t a problem, anyway. The woman I talked to tried to shift me off to another doctor or the nurse practitioner but I stuck to my guns and told her I wanted to see the doctor who had been recommended. My appointment isn’t until the end of next month. I’ve waited this long. I don’t guess another six weeks or so will make a big difference.

I’ve been curious about what kind of surgery I might have if I’m a candidate so I sent a private message to my hearing center friend for more information. Here’s what she told me:

Tommie, you have some of the markers and characteristics of otosclerosis…a bone disease in the middle ear space. In the early stages doctors can usually cure it by surgery called a stapedectomy. If the disease has progressed beyond a certain point, surgery is no longer an option. But it has to be treated to stop the disease. However, there are many more ear diseases and it can be any one of these….so happy you are going to see Dr. M…be sure and take my report with you…you may be retested to see if the disease is worse. Be praying for you. Hugs

I’d talked to her on the phone and thought I understood what she was saying but, obviously, my hearing isn’t the best. Having it in writing was much better. I searched for “stapedectomy” and found this:

This is just one example. There are other videos on youtube but this is the first one I found. I’m quite excited at the prospect. I hope my disease hasn’t progressed past the point of its not being an option. There’s one thing that is a definite con. One of the possible results of the surgery is vertigo. It would eventually go away but, currently, I have very good balance (just ask my Mii on my Wii). Occasionally, I have perfect balance but most often it’s no more than a 1% variance if that much.

AT&T sent me a notice saying my DSL account balance was $-2.53. Years ago, I had an AT&T credit card and overpaid by a small amount. I was working then and didn’t take the time to pursue getting a refund and the credit balance eventually disappeared. I didn’t want it to happen again. I tried to contact billing but it was after hours so I did a “contact” form and explained the situation. Next morning, I chatted with an agent (I always chat if I can because I can copy and paste the exchange into a document in case it’s needed) and she assured me I’d get a refund. To make me happy, she credited my U-verse account in the amount of $3. That took my month’s balance to $6.12. A little while later, an email came saying a check had been processed on the 10th and I would receive it within 10-14 days. Uh-oh! I emailed back and asked if I should tear the check up since I’d already been given credit. No. Keep the check. Apply it to my account. It came Thursday. If this keeps up, they’ll be paying me to have Internet access. ALSO, I received my $100 reward card.

I told the neighbor across the street about U-verse. She gets phone calls wanting her to switch. That’s one good thing about not having a land line. They leave me alone.

Tuesday morning, I was awakened by my alarm clock. I don’t know why that clock has a mind of its own. The only morning of the week I set it to go off is Sabbath. I turn it off and it’s supposed to be silent, right? Well, it wasn’t. “Beep-beep-beep! Beep-beep-beep! Beep-beep-beep!” I reached over and assaulted it. There was no going back to sleep, though. Miss Twinkle had heard it. She didn’t care. I was supposed to get up so I did.

Our weather has been wet and nasty. When it hasn’t been wet and nasty, it’s been nasty and wet. I’d laid in enough food to do me for a week and a half so I didn’t have to go anywhere.

The temperature started dropping and there was talk of measurable snowfall. My sisters were supposed to get more than we were here. I heard more than raindrops hitting the vent in the bathroom. When I looked out, it was sleet mixed with the rain. We might be in for it, for sure.

Along toward dark on Thursday, I took the compost out to the bin. I was surprised to see strips of blue sky. Instead of a winter event, it looked as if it might be clearing off. And clear off, it did. Yesterday was a nice day. Today was even nicer.

The speaker at church was the daughter of my good friend Joyce. She and her family are missionaries in Bolivia. She has inherited her mother’s talent for public speaking (Joyce was known to the children in our church as “The Story Lady”). There were lots of pictures but the one that made the biggest impression on me was the infamous “Death Road”. It’s some 61 kilometers long. That’s about 38 treacherous hair-raising miles. And, of necessity, traffic goes both ways. Sometimes two vehicles passing each other can spell disaster.

The teachers had taken a group from the school (most of the students there are very poor) on a missionary trip. It was definitely culture shock. As poor as they are, the people they met had even less.

After church, I was talking to the five year old daughter of one of DD’s former schoolmates. She was excitedly telling me about her aunt’s wedding. “She married her BOYFRIEND!” “She did?” “YES! Her boyfriend is her HUSBAND now!” What a concept! (This is a note for DD—the aunt is the father’s sister.)

The patriarch of the family that owns the Apple House passed away yesterday so I came home, scarfed down my lunch and went back down the mountain for the viewing. When I went in the door at the funeral home, there was a line from the room where the family was, around the corner and clear to the chapel. I signed the book and took my place in line. The funeral director’s wife came and directed us into the chapel and told us to go around, that they were splitting up the line so it would go faster. We walked through the chapel and into the room next to where the family was. I saw one of my friends there and, at a distance, there was a lady from my bank. It was obvious that part of the line was going nowhere so, after standing in my dress shoes for most of 15 minutes, I told my friend I was leaving. It would have been nice to speak to the family but I would have been another face in the crowd. I came on home.

I’ve eaten too much today. The last two days, I’ve weighed more than I have for a long long time and that trend has to be reversed. If I could pass some of the weight along to Twinkle, I would. That’s an impossibility.

The mice have made their presence known in DD’s room. That’s my wintertime pantry. My neighbor/cousin brought me some patching plaster that I mixed with cornmeal to feed them. They’ve left their calling cards in it but I don’t know if they’ve eaten any. I hate to kill the critters but I can’t have them in the house. They’re nasty.

Genese has been having some intense times. Pray for her. The good news is she lost a lub last week. Now, if I can get inspired, too…

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If I could find a doctor who could get Medicare to agree to surgery, my educated guess is that a minimum of 100 “lubs” would disappear immediately. My useless left leg weighs at least that much; no telling how much “Harriet” weighs. My physical therapist used that name for my belly blob. I think Henrietta (as in Henrietta Hippo) would be more apropos. Getting Medicare to agree to something preemptive is impossible. Their rules and regs defy all logic.

Kaitlyn’s doctor saw no change in Lynzee’s condition; she is still holding on.

As for the other issues in my life right now, I think this chorus sums it up pretty well:

“But this time, Lord you gave me a mountain
A mountain you know I may never climb
It isn’t just a hill any longer
You gave me a mountain this time…”

Since you had gastric bypass, wouldn’t it be reasonable to have surgery to remove your “belly blob”? You are diabetic, so couldn’t the useless leg be potentially life-threatening? Too bad Dr. Bownds retired. He could “get around” all sorts of things.

I was excited to meet Susie and I think she was glad to meet me also! She told me that when she would call her mom from Bolivia, Joyce would say “is this Joanie?” lol
(Don’t know if you knew that Joyce and I had adopted each other). It is nice to have another sister! She has worked with Alissa at Laurelbrook a few times so they know each other, but Susie didn’t know that Alissa was my daughter (and of course, Alissa didn’t know she was Joyce’s daughter), so when I shared this with Alissa later, she said “I’ll have to call her Aunt Susie next time we work together!” I told her she should do that, that I though Susie would enjoy that!

Yes, I remember how close you and Joyce were. It broke her heart when Cornelio took Nicolas to Bolivia. She cried and told me, “I’ll never see Nicolas again.” I said not to say that, that she didn’t know but she did.

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About me

Tommie passed away in November 2016, but we are keeping this blog online as a virtual legacy. Here is how she described herself:
My name is Tommie, and I have been vegetarian my whole life. For several years I was 100% raw, but now consider myself vegan with lots of raw food. This website chronicles my journey, gives advice on how to live a raw food lifestyle, and shares recipes, both raw and simple cooked.

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